OvoLab has released AAChoo, a US$15 utility for converting MP3 songs to AAC (Advanced Audio Coding). AAC audio files are supported by iTunes 4 and Apple’s third generation of iPods, as well as older iPods with the newest iPod updater installed.
You can drop a file, a folder, or a CD onto AAChoo, and it will encode it automatically to the location you select. Your iTunes music library will be automatically updated with the new songs with no need to remove duplicates, search for files, or rebuild your playlists, according to OvoLad. What’s more, name, artist and album information will be preserved, as well.
To use AAChoo, you’ll need Mac OS X and QuickTime 6.0 or higher (although iTunes 4 needs QT 6.2 for AAC playback). Also, you’ll need to ensure that your iPod is updated to software version 1.3 in order to enable playback of AAC audio files.